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Christ Alone Wyoming 
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
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To willfully sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth proves that person has not been born again by God. It isn’t a ‘free will’ choice, it is a result of an unregenerate heart and the sin nature of the natural man. The will always chooses to sin! To think that text proves man has ‘free will’ is to rip it out of its context and do what is known as ‘eisegesis’.
Now, go to 1 John 3 to get further understanding, -Jn 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Lyn
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Finn does not understand Heb 10:26. This passage tells us that there is no other way for sin to be covered, paid for, atoned for, other than the blood of Christ and those who spurn Him have no refuge. It is a warning to Christians who were considering putting the yoke of the Law on themselves.
Lyn, I disagree with your first statement, as there is no Christian that has not willfully sinned after being born again and because there is no support in Scripture for that absolute you have drawn out.
1 John 1:8 (ESV) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Knowing we sin – and all sin is willful, as you (Lyn) rightly described it. None of us has arrived or will arrive at perfection in this age.
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Manfred,
I wasn’t implying sinless perfection, and agree, we do still sin after God saves. If sin is a consistent pattern in one’s life and willfully pursued, for example, being immoral, then it becomes obvious they are children of the devil and not children of God, which is what 1 John 3 states.
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You didn’t bother reading 1 John chapter three did you?
No one here is debating that all sin is willful, but that doesn’t mean you have free will. Read John 8:34, for example. Sin is a bondage that overpowers the sinner, the natural inclination is to sin because of the sin nature and not because of free will. The will is in bondage just as is all of the inner man {see Jeremiah 17:9}.
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No one is arguing that we don’t have a will. Why not stay within the ambit of Scripture? We can’t insert our own ideas and bias’ into isolated texts and violate the pericope. Don’t we as Christians all agree that Scripture always interprets Scripture?
Having a will and having free will are not the same. If we have free will then we should freely will to stop sinning. But we can’t because sin. so I think this is a bit of an equivocation
By the way, from what I’ve read, Lyn is being a respectful and thoughtful interlocutor, and I took her position as she presented her arguments serious and not as (personal) contentiousness.
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Only God can open your eyes to a right understanding of the will. I will give scripture that proves your will is in bondage to sin, from Jeremiah 17:9, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’
‘heart’ – inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding
‘deceitful’ – crooked, deceitful, polluted
‘desperately wicked’ – incurable, sick, woeful.
how can such a ‘heart’, which includes the will, rightly choose spiritual matters? It simply cannot Finnegan. That is why God included this, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor. 2:14
The bible proves you do not have free will to choose salvation, or to stop sinning. You close your ears to these truths. May God have mercy on you.
As for your accusations against me, they are false and your opinion, nothing more.
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“No man is able to come to Christ except that Father draw him (John 6:44). The sinner drinks iniquity like water and does not seek God (Job 15:16; Rom. 3:11), so he can no more choose to come to Christ and gain for himself the benefits of the atonement than a leopard can change his spots (Jer. 13:23).”- Dr. Greg Bahnsen
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Lyn,
I was not assuming you were pushing perfectionism. The flow of the epistle and the chapter must be taken into account to properly comprehend that last part of chapter 10. Jews who were considering reverting to the Levitical religion were being warned that if you don’t trust Jesus for your soul, there is no other forgiveness possible.
Our will is captive to our mind and sin is a product of our mind; it is something we choose at a given time. It is a reminder that sin yet inhabits us and that there is nothing good in our flesh, which cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Even now, come quickly Lord Jesus.
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